FernStone

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

It was nice to be back in their shitty lair, lounging in a chair riding off the high of what had happened and well away from the angry, rich asshole. If Maya was honest that was absolutely not what she’d planned to do. She’d just gone along to mess things up a little, wind Emily up and listen to the bullshit deal that Blake offered. It wasn’t her fault that Phillis was insanely attractive and her tiny amount of flirting had worked.

She wasn’t exactly going to turn down that, deal be damned. It was a stupid deal anyway.

"... So what you're saying is you banged her so good that she awakened from it? Sounds like bullshit, sugar."

Taylor

“That’s exactly what happened,” Maya smirked, sipping on a can of pepsi she’d picked up from a convenience store on the way back to Fantasy land as if it was some kind of fancy drink. “I know it’s hard to believe when you weren’t there but… we went and slept together, and she came back awakened so there’s no other explanation.”

She then raised an eyebrow at what Babylon said, but nodded. “See, it’s happened before. But there was no blood and only a certain kind of screaming, if you get what I mean.” Maya winked.

She knew she was being absolutely insufferable but if she was honest, she didn’t care. It had so long since she’d gotten laid and it had both been with fucking Blake Schmidt’s wife and she’d awakened. Ok so maybe it had been an asshole move to fuck up the deal that Babylon rightly pointed out was going nowhere and it wasn’t in the spirit of teamplay (something Maya was pretending to get better at). But it wasn’t like she’d planned to mess it up. It had just happened.

But she also really didn’t care.

"How about we go to a strip club to blow off steam? I want to get as drunk as Madison was."

Taylor

She’d completely zoned out of the conversation, but the mention of drinking had her right back to paying attention.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Maya commented even though she knew Taylor was saying it sarcastically. “Unless we have anything else to do why shouldn’t we have a bit of fun together? After all, part of the reason we’re all together is companionship… right?”

And it sounded like a hell of a lot more fun than hanging around Fantasy Land or, even worse, going home to spend her Friday evening alone. Still, she could understand if people weren’t too fussed about the idea. Maybe she’d offer an incentive even if it meant kinda admitting fault. But anything to not have to deal with boredom.

“Since the deal not working out was mostly my fault, if we do go somewhere, drinks are on me.”

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

---

---

“How far...can you teleport us?”

Trent

“Far enough away that it can’t see us,” Isla replied confidently, even though she didn’t feel it because she couldn’t guarantee that. Having to teleport to somewhere she’d been was a real pain when she'd hardly gone anywhere in this place. “But I don’t want to unless we have too…”

She shook her head and kept going, slightly faster with Trent leaning on her a bit less. It wasn’t until they were a fair amount down the street that she turned her head around and noticed that the creature that had once been Caelea was gone. She came to a stop.

“It’s gone,” she breathed out, more confused than anything. “...Let’s wait for the others.”

She kept an arm around Trent as they stopped and waited, leaving it for him to decide if he wanted to stop using her for support - cause he sure did seem like he needed it. He did not look like he was in a good state at all.

But at least they seemed safe… for now.

---

By the time the others appeared, Isla was tired. If she was honest all she wanted to do was sleep off all the blinking she’d done that day… But she also didn’t know if she could after seeing that. But if she was honest no one seemed in good shape. Not that she was surprised.

She looked away as the tall girl (Zoey?) hugged Captain Penny, partly out of respect and partly because they just couldn’t watch the crying.

"... I don't think this is real... When Caelea was killed, the Hound didn't show up."

"And he's always there when someone dies."

Odessa

Now that sounded like complete bullshit to Isla. She’d literally seen the albino girl ripped apart in front of her eyes. There was absolutely no way that she wasn’t dead. Isla didn’t trust it one bit - as a liar herself she wasn’t going to believe something that far fetched. Just because some dog hadn’t turned up? No way.

But she didn’t say or show any of that, instead a lazy (but strained) smile reappeared on her lips as she looked over at Odessa.

“Well that sounds like great news,” she started, free hand going up to twirl her hair around her finger. “But I second Finley’s question… Who’s the hound? And do you mean that she’s not dead?”

It just seemed absurd to her, even as she didn’t show how much she didn’t believe Odessa’s words.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

---

---

Introductions were completely forgotten as everything went to shit again.

“Fuck,” Isla cursed as an explosion came from nearby, blinking out of the way of a piece of debris and right back to the group. She held her head as the world spun and she almost fell over. The Scottish girl blinked as her gaze found the shadowy creature that had found them again. She was very down with the girl who’d booped her nose’s order for them to get away.

She certainly wasn’t planning to stick around. She began to back away from the apparition, mouth opening to tell them that they should run rather than hide.

But the words died on her lips as the albino girl was ripped apart with a brutality she’d never witnessed before. Her eyes widened in horror as the thing entered her and pulled her back together. She felt bile rise in her throat and a hand raised to clamp over her mouth. What hell were they in. She only felt more horrified as the girl, no it wasn’t her anymore, grinned.

She forced herself to tear her gaze away as the big guy went absolutely crazy. They had to get out of there. Part of her was telling her to just run but she knew she wouldn’t forgive herself if she just abandoned everyone. She looked over at Finley where they seemed stuck to the spot, visibly trembling and Trent was still on the ground.

"RUN!"

Penny

Isla had already planned to, but the shout from the pseudo leader made her completely focused on the idea. With Penny heading towards the action she was the only adult left. Fuck. She could teleport them all away if she’d been anywhere in this godforsaken place. But she hadn’t aside from where she woke up, which wasn’t far enough away from her. It would be idiotic to exhaust herself like that. She'd do it only if she absolutely needed to.

She gritted her teeth, any semblance of that strangely cheerful smile from earlier gone from her face as she looked around the small group still near her. Part of her still wanted to just run herself but she knew she couldn't.

"Isla grab him."

Stacey

"On it," Isla nodded, glad one of the three wasn't completely freaking out. It was enough to stop her from dwelling on what was happening. Of course none of them were dwelling on it but he was right… They had to get away.

So she bent down and slung an arm around Trent's back and under his arm while pulling the other over her shoulder. Quietly, she easily lied, "it's going to be alright, we just need to get away, so help me out here."

Then she yanked him up and followed right after Stacey. Her pace was just a bit faster than his, thankfully she'd gotten over her exhaustion, so she caught up and kept pace with him. She was glad that Trent was shorter than her and pretty skinny because this would've been rough otherwise. Still, carrying someone else always made running slower… And she wasn't going to leave Stacey behind with his own extra weight.

"Stick close," she said to Stacey, eyes narrowed as her words came out slightly panted. "I might be able to teleport us outta here if that thing tries to follow us."

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

This is going to be a trip to describe on the summary.

@Ghost Note

I think every part will be, the way this rp has been going

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

Maya appeared just a bit after Phillis, having taken a bit more time to properly put her clothes back on. She ran a hand through her hair before just deciding to work the messy, post sex look. She had absolutely no qualms about what had just happened. Honestly, she was riding the high of it. So she was happy to follow after Phillis, clearly looking like she’d had a good time.

Arriving just in time to see Phillis properly kiss Blake. A smirk crossed her lips and she had to smack a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing at the conversation. She hadn’t expected her to just outright say it but… What could Maya say, she was enjoying the show. And damn did Blake deserve it.

She leaned against a nearby chair, smile wide as she watched their exchange. If she was honest, the aftermath was almost better the sex itself. This was the kind of shit that Maya lived for. It hadn’t even been her plan (honestly, she’d been very happy to get laid) but it was working out so well. Really, this made up for all the money they were ultimately going to lose out on. For her, that was.

"And I gotta say, she was great. Much better than you and guess what?"

Phillis

“Hear that? I’m so good that she awakened,” Maya commented, eyes on Emily and enjoying her clear anger just as much as everything else. There was smugness written over all her features - the compliment had gone right to her head. Better than Blake Schmidt? Fuck yes was she holding onto this. She didn’t even care that she’d been called a whore with all the rest before.

Her smirk only widened as Blake crushed a wine glass in his hand, even as she flinched at his anger. She subtly moved herself so she was actually next to the rest of the coven members still there rather than standing off to the side.

"I offer you all the deal of a lifetime and then you fornicate with my wife?! I'M REDACTING THE OFFER! ALL OF YOU, GET OUT OF HERE!"

Blake

“Are you sure you don’t want Izzy to heal you first?” Maya asked tauntingly, still smiling in the face of his extreme anger (knowing the Coven members would probably protect her if anything happened). She completely ignored Emily as she continued - though it seemed she’d turned on Izzy rather than Maya herself, for once. “I have to say, I don’t understand why you’d go for any other woman when you have such a perfect wife… but that’s your loss and my gain. It must really hurt that she got the powers you wanted so badly.”

Maya paused, looking towards Phillis with a more genuine and less taunting smile. Her expression went back to full on smug as she looked back at Blake. “It seems some things just aren’t meant to be, like you getting powers. But it was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr Schmidt.”

With one last smirk she walked towards the elevator… only to stop before it and turn back around. She looked directly at Phillis and put her hand up to her ear in a phone like motion, mouthing ‘call me’ before winking. With absolutely no subtlety.

This had been the best day.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

---

---

"... This place is hell."

Zoey

Caelea blinked rapidly, eyes widening as Zoey started sobbing more. She shook her head at that. “There’s no way this is hell, Zoey. We’ll get out of here.”

It couldn’t be, not after they’ve come so far. And hell wasn’t something filled with children… and your friends. From what Caelea knew you were alone in a place like that. So she agreed with Hagan, there was no way it was. He was right, the child would never do anything like that. She shook her head again. She couldn’t believe that… but she could understand why Zoey did.

“We can't explain this,” Caelea murmured, noticing just how much Zoey was shivering in that moment. She grabbed her hoodie, which was sizes too big for her anyway, pulling it off and holding it out to the other girl. “Here take-”

An explosion rang through her ears and she spun around to face the destroyed building, automatically dropping into a defensive pose. Her pale eyes widened as she didn’t have to dodge any of the debris flying towards them… because Hagan had stepped in front of them and formed a full barrier. An orange barrier that made Caelea feel slightly sick to the stomach. She was even more determined to talk to him about it now. Under her breath, she muttered, “was it always that colour?”

Before pulling herself out of the thoughts and back to the present.

That just kept getting weirder. As the Apparition moved towards them she’d fully expected Hagan’s barrier to not be able to take the damage and shatter, and for them to get hit. But instead it came to a stop and started… Crying?

“I don’t know,” Caelea ran a hand through her hair as she peered around Hagan at the Apparition. While she was glad that it wasn’t attacking them she wasn’t sure how much she liked this better. “I don’t think this is real, somehow.” She frowned. “I’m going to try talk to it.”

It was probably one of the stupidest ideas she’d had, but it was that or run away. Somehow she didn’t think running would work for them. So she stepped out around Hagan and walked forward towards the Apparition - stopping just before the edge of the dome of Hagan’s barrier. She kept her hands up and ready to use her abstraction, to hit it or get herself out of the way, if it moved.

“What do you want from us?” And then, more awkwardly, she added, “And why are you crying?”

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

---

---

Caelea’s eyes widened as some girl she’d never seen before, probably that Lilith person Penny was worried they’d left behind, somehow caught up and grabbed onto the boat. What the hell. She’d seen some crazy shit and really shouldn’t be shocked but… she was. There was nothing she could do to help her, but it seemed that Hagan could.

Then a tendril came out of his hand in an eerie orange colour that had her automatically flinching and stepping back. She tried to force the sudden flood of memories back even as panic jolted through her body. It was far too familiar to… No. This was Hagan, not that. She’d just have to ask him about it-

There was no time to think about it as the apparition moved at a speed she couldn’t even see. One minute she was staring at that orange in shock, the next she was flying through the air and hit the water with a shocked scream. Her vision blacked out momentarily as her head hit the water, harder than she’d hit the ice platform earlier. As it came back she was already sinking even as she struggled against the freezing water. Her arms and legs thrashed as she gasped for air only to find her mouth filled with water.

She knew she should’ve learned to swim.

As her vision began to disappear a voice sounded in her ears… One slightly familiar, yet not.

---

Caelea woke up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright. Her eyes slammed shut instantly as the sunlight blinded them. Her first thought was that she had to get out of the sun before she turned red. She rubbed her still aching head as her brain began to catch up with what was going on.

All she could hear was the sounds of children. As if she hadn’t already had a bad enough day. She finally opened her eyes and squinted against the bright light, lips curling up in disgust. These were actual children, not slightly younger teenagers that she could just about put up with. She hated children. Especially when there were this many. She really had to get away from this.

Annoyance shot through Caelea as she stood up, temper short from everything that had happened. A kid threw a baseball directly at her and her hands shot up to catch it… only for the ball to go right through her. What? She gritted her teeth as she approached the kid that had thrown it and straight up kicked him. Her foot went right through the smug bastard, which only led her to be more frustrated - if not surprised.

So not only was she surrounded by screaming children but she couldn’t kick them into shutting up? Worst day ever.

Caelea clenched her fists as she tried to breath through the seething anger that she was beginning to feel. All she wanted to do was kick something, anything, but was there anything solid in here? She doubted it. It felt just like the recollections they’d had before… where nothing was quite real. She took another deep breath as she glanced around to make sure there was no one nearby. She could see Hagan a bit off - his height meant he was far too easy to spot. But no one was nearby.

Having determined there was no one to see her nearby and laugh, Caelea bet forward so her hands touched the floor. Then she flipped herself up into a handstand, holding it for a few moments before flipping so her feet were also on the ground. Then she stood up properly, feeling slighter calmer than before. Nothing like some gymnastics to force her out of her anger (though rational for once).

Then she began to make her way towards Hagan through the swarms of children, trying her best to ignore all of them. By the time she reached him, Zoey already had to. "Well it's nice to see you two again, I have to say-" She was about to complain about how shit this place was but her gaze flickered to Zoey, noticing the tears. Fuck, she was crying. Caelea closed her mouth again. She had no idea what to say when someone was crying.

“Well, uh, that this is pretty shit,” the short girl continued “But at least we’re still alive? Probably.”

Really she wanted to ask Hagan about his abstraction but now wasn't the time.

---

---

One minute she was drowning, the next she woke up lying on her back in the dirt. Isla jolted up, spluttering up water that was no longer in her lungs. The sounds of children running around her was familiar as if she was experiencing a memory of her own - only there wasn’t sun like this in Scotland. Slowly she sat up, hand reaching to her head to ensure her beanie was still there. She let out a relieved sigh as she felt the soft knit material beneath her fingers.

Thank god for that.

She let out a quiet yelp as one of the children playing ran right through her. What the fuck? This was not normal at all. She stood up with a frown. Her beanie glowed with purple sigils as she tried to stop the movement of one of the kids, only for it to fail. She shook her head. Yeah, this was fucking weird.

She looked around and spotted one of the people who had been on the lifeboat - who literally appeared out of thin air a little bit away from her. Huh, that was pretty cool! Ignoring the children and walking right through them, she approached the two.

“Is he alright?” Isla asked as she squatted down beside the younger boy who was literally facedown. That couldn’t be good for his breathing. She was tempted to poke him to check that he was alive. “Gotta say, breathing in dirt ain’t something I'd recommend.”

She then turned to Finley with a bright, far too cheerful smile for the situation. “I’m Isla, by the way. Pretty fun all this almost dyin' and waking up surrounded by ghost wean- children, aye?”

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

---

---

Caelea was honestly surprised that they didn’t drown. She was even more surprised when Zoey shouted out - loud enough to cause her to wince (though mostly from her pounding headache). She finally forced herself up from her lying position and saw the lifeboat. Shit. It had actually worked?

Everything fucking hurt as she got onto her feet and onto the boat, head swimming from the sudden standing. She managed to keep her balance… just about. As soon as she was inside she placed a hand on the wall to steady herself. Slowly, but surely, the world stopped spinning around her. She could think with a bit more clarity, or at least fight through the pain now that she was off the floating ice block and on the lifeboat.

"To be fair to Hagan, I'm the one who left him to get Zoey," Caelea admitted with a good natured shrug, even as her mouth was a firm line and her face screwed up with pain. Honestly, Penny looked in a much worse shape than her. At least they were all here. She glanced at Trent and Finley. They looked alive, which was all she'd wanted when she'd asked Hagan to protect them. "And technically he did his job, since all the kids are still alive."

She was gonna go on to slap Hagan on the back and say good job or some shit, but as her hand raised to the air so did something from the sea. But of course, it wasn’t over yet. Because nothing was easy.

Caelea rubbed her head as she just stared at it… partly in shock, but partly not. No matter how many times she saw things like this, which wasn’t often after the Glutton, it didn’t stop being… horrifying. Especially not when it was something that could destroy a boat nevermind them. Caelea gritted her teeth. Most of them were already injured and there was no way to fight a large, shadowy floating monster while on the sea. Isla barely even reacted as she turned to look at it, blinking as her brain didn’t quite register what it saw. It didn’t help that she was still reeling from all the teleportation.

Hagan asked for someone to drive. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he ran to the door, frowning as she tried to figure out something to help. And came up blank. She had no idea what he was planning to do but she just hoped it would help… without losing anyone (him included). Penny pretty quickly followed him, so that was a relief.

Caelea was about to comment on her inability to drive when, to her surprise, Stacey jumped up to the driver’s seat. And he could drive it… Well at least it was moving. Caelea instantly grabbed hold of the nearest chair to stabilise herself as nausea stabbed through her again. Of course she didn’t do well on smaller, fast moving boats because why would anything go right today. Of course she got sea sick. She took deep, gasping breaths and swallowed down the urge to vomit. Not here, not now. She was thankful that she hadn’t eaten anything that day.

“We need to get ready to get off as soon as we get to shore, I have a feeling this thing isn’t going to leave us alone even when we hit land,” Caelea commented, turning to the others even as her voice was strained. One of the kids, Finley she thinks, looked pretty shaken by the creature's appearance. She had to remind herself that this wasn’t normal for people to be used to. “I’m going to help by the door.”

She glanced over to where Penny was… clearly struggling. There was no way she could hold at the door and Cael didn't want to leave Hagan there alone. She didn't even know if she could help. She lowered her voice, speaking specifically to Zoey as she watched Penny out of the corner of her eye. "I don’t think Penny is in a good state… I dunno the first thing about health and shit, but she might need help getting off when we get to shore..."

She shook her head slightly, unsure what more to say than that. Instead she just moved over to the door, glancing over at where Penny was standing right against the wall. Yeah, definitely not in a good condition. Still she didn't comment on it because she knew how she'd react to having a weakness pointed out - even if it was an injury. Especially if it was an injury. Instead, she just said, "I'll try to blast it away or damage it if it gets too close."

She gave Penny a nod, stepping into her previous spot at the door - slightly behind Hagan. She still felt nausea in the pits of her stomach but she could ignore it for now. She concentrated on watching the apparition and being ready to help if necessary.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

She half heard Nina telling her to be careful, and glanced at the younger girl while murmuring, “I’m not going to do it here, don’t worry.” Then she turned her full attention back to Phillis.

"... Sweetheart, I would love a demonstration from you,"

Phillis

“Well, in that case I’ll definitely have to give you one,” Maya gave a wide smile, even as her cheeks flushed slightly. She lowered her voice, and somewhat suggestively said, “but I’d rather do it somewhere more… private.”

She’d leaned in closer to the older woman, casually, as she spoke - and would have said more but noticed Izzy had gotten up to give a demonstration. Maya stayed where she was even as she indicated to the other girl.

“Ah, it looks like the demonstration’s starting. Izzy can heal people’s wounds.” She pointed to her own cheek, turning it towards Phillis. “Just earlier I had a bruise here, but it's all healed thanks to her. Her’s is one of the less… combative abilities but incredibly useful. She can do it thanks-” Maya cut herself off, mouth forming a perfect oh shape of faux shock as Izzy put his finger in her mouth. “... she doesn’t normally do it like that.”

The demonstration Izzy was giving was… lacklustre at best when it came to actually showing off magic. It was more like she was just sucking off Blake’s finger. Knowing Izzy, that girl knew exactly what she was doing and she definitely wanted more than that. But it was awful as far as proving magic or showing their true capabilities. Of course Blake would see that his paper cut was healed - but she doubted that Phillis had at all.

“Well, that really didn’t show much,” Maya commented, eyebrow raising as she turned back to Phillis. She continued softly, voice heavy with double meaning. “I’m guessing you’ll really want to see my demonstration after that one.”

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

---

---

Once the weedy kid who’d fallen was hauled back in, Isla made a decision. She was just going to do it, people left be damned. She wasn’t going to stay clinging to the railing forever.

Isla blinked to the release lever, yanking it down before blinking back to the railing and clinging on. She ignored how her head spun and the sheer exhaustion coursing through her body as she turned to make sure it had worked. And it had - the lifeboat was lowering, though it was a lot less dramatic and slower than she’d expected. That’s what she got for basing her expectations off of movies… but it was still too quick for her to blink right in.

She watched the boat lowering as she waited a few moments for her head to clear, breath ragged from all the blinking she’d been doing in such a short space of time. Then sigils glowed around her beanie and she teleported into the lowering lifeboat.

As soon as Isla appeared inside the lifeboat she collapsed, managing to catch herself on one of the chairs. She pulled herself up to just about sit on one even as she stared in front of her, completely out of it. It was a struggle just to keep her eyes open and there was absolutely no way she was going anywhere… she’d pushed her body to its limits with her abstraction.

She blinked and said to no one in particular, words slurred and accent heavy, “I think I need a nap.”

---

---

Caelea hit the ice platform Zoey had made, feet first before her legs buckled beneath her and her head slamming into it. The world swirled around her as she lay, winded and in intense pain. She felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to her head and she closed her eyes in an attempt to ward away the pain that came from blurry vision. Slowly, surely, she came to her sense - even as her head still pounded and swam with dizziness.

"You alright...?"

Zoey

“I’m alive,” Caelea groaned, not moving from where she lay on the ice. She opened her eyes to squint them against the overly bright night sky. Bright lights speckled the corners of them even as she rapidly blinked. Everything fucking hurt but as she’d said she was alive… and nothing seemed broken.

So yeah, her being alive just about covered how she felt. But also she knew this situation wasn’t stable at all. She tried to sit up, slowly, only to be hit by a wave of nausea and throw a hand over her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. She lay right back down.

"Alright... squirt… Got an idea, not a good fucking one but we're about to drown. Ice floats on water and we're going up... so how about we just physics do its fucking thing and figure out what to do next from there?"

Zoey

“I can’t believe that’s catching on,” Caelea muttered in as close to a joking tone as she could muster. Her voice was harsh sounding as she spoke, still winded, but she answered without any doubts. “Let’s do it… anything’s better than drowning.” She slowly turned her head to look at Zoey. “I’d rather be on a floating ice block than trying to swim.”

Something she very much couldn’t do. If she was honest, her pounding and confused brain didn’t entirely get what the plan involved (not at all helped by the fact she’d always failed physics). But anything was better than nothing.

“And maybe I can somehow use my abstraction to somehow propel us.”

As if that wasn’t another, probably terrible, idea.